50th Post

I.CAN'T.STOP.THINKING.ABOUT.IRONMAN.

Jackson County Tri Race Report and bad "Car"ma

Happy Monday to everyone. I am finishing up with some things for work and thought I would take the time to do a race report. Prompt for once, I know! So, sorry it is so long but... enjoy.

We headed out to Lee's Summit, MO on Saturday morning. We did end up taking both cars. We had one bike that fit on the rear rack (his) and one bike that was too stinkin' small (mine). Since my bike has to ride in the backseat, the dogs would have had nowhere to sit and so two cars it was. (Time for a larger car, huh? And we don't even have any kids!)

So off we went, great trip out, to bed early and up at 5 to head to the race. Took the the Neon to the lake and got our gear out and set up in transition.


Mr KT getting his gear together before the race.



I was excited that Mr KT was able to come and do the duathlon while I raced short course. Anyway, off the long course athletes went in their waves.


Warm up on the beach



Long course athletes getting ready to go


Next the duathlete racers set out and finally it was time for the Sprint race to start. Mr KT said that he saw one of the Olympics distance racers try and jump on their bike from the back, like cowboys jump on horses in the movies, only not so successfully. The first time he shorted it and got hung up on his carbon fiber bottle cages, the second time he landed on top of the cages and ripped them off the bike spilling his drink everywhere, the third time he got tangled up and dumped his bike. Mr KT said that he was cussing but he just kept trying. 3 minutes could easily have been saved by throwing a leg over like a mere mortal but apparently he was trying to impress someone.

I was racing with a pretty good head cold, but it wasn't at all in my chest so I figured I was safe. I also didn't dope up on the acetaminophen until 3 hours after the race, so all was well. I think the only part of the race it may have affected was my swim. I felt like I couldn't get a breath and I am sure that the lake water wasn't helping. It was a 500 m swim and I only got kicked once. My goggles filled up with water and I got a breath of water but after I recovered from that I was good to go. I sort of felt like I was working hard and not really going anywhere but it didn't really matter as it was only 500 m.
Swim time: 9:52 (but about 45 sec was running up the beach) which makes my pace 1:40/100 yds

T1: Uneventful although the racks were super close together. I had to hold my bike over my head and jump over people to get in and out. Ran with cycling shoes through transition. Hopped on. Rode away.
T1 time: 1:38



Bike: One 11.75 mile loop. Hilly and great. Very little wind which was nice. I drank 1/2 a bottle of Gatorade. There was a tight S curve about 1/2 way through where they were telling everyone to slow down. Not only was it on a slight decline but the pavement was a mess. It looked like someone had poured new blacktop over old asphalt and the new stuff had come up in chucks. Anyway, it was manageable if you followed the recommendation from the volunteers and race officials to slow down. We were also warned about it before each wave started. Apparently, a few people thought that the race director was joking about that little snafu in the course. There was a gal down in the bushes and brush when I went by with about 4 other athletes around her. I rode on ahead to make sure that one of the volunteers with a radio knew that someone was down, which they did. The next little obstacle was a one lane bridge that we were required to dismount and run our bikes across. I actually thought it was pretty fun but there were about 10 people who got DQ'd for riding the bridge. It just so happened that at the time that I got to the bridge the firetruck for the wrecked rider was trying to get across. A whole mess of us were stopped at the bridge waiting for the firetruck which eventually decided that they weren't going to be able to drive it. We lost a couple of minutes but you know, it is just a game, a sport. The lady next to me was cussing out the volunteer, the firetruck, whatever she could think of. I finally turned to her and said something along the lines of, "what is one or two minutes in our race if that other rider is seriously hurt? It is just for fun." She growled at me, but stopped complaining. I smoked her after we were allowed to cross. Then about 1/2 mile up the road we were to turn left but I was stopped again as the ambulance driver tried to execute a three point turn. Three points turned into four, turned into five and finally I was given the go-ahead. I wasn't frustrated, if I was back there with a broken collar bone, tons of road rash and a week full of poison ivy ahead I would want some help ASAP. I had to climb a pretty good hill from a standstill because of this but I figure it only made me stronger. The last part of the bike had a monster downhill which was super fun except since I couldn't breathe out of my nose I ended up drooling all over my cheek because of the wind and my open mouth. Sexy, I know, try to contain yourselves guys.
Bike time: 41:09 Avg: 17.8. This avg was from my computer, mind that I had to stop completely twice.

T2: I undid the straps on my bike shoes coming in because I usually slide them off and run in barefoot but for some reason I unclipped so I had to run thru transition with my cycling shoes flopping around on my feet. Stupid. Anywho, same old, same old except this time I had to blow my nose. There goes :20. I pulled my shoes on, grabbed my belt and was gone. No socks on a race this short.
T2 time: 1:30

Run: My husband was waiting for me as I came out of the transition area. He had long since finished his duathlon and was waiting to do some cheering. I felt great off the bike. My legs weren't tired at all and I was ready to go. Mr KT ran with me for most of the run and don't worry, I couldn't pace off him if I wanted to, he stuck mostly behind me and off to the side. It was a nice run with lots of shade.
Run time: 26:49. Pace: 8:37.


Overall time: 1:20:54
Age group: 7/25 although I got a third place medal because 4 of the top 5 overall females were in my age-group. Tough crowd!
Overall female: 14/139

My husband was a rock star!
Run #1: 1.4 miles - 8:33 avg 6:07
T1: 0:52
Bike: 11.75 miles - 35:37 avg 19.8
T2: 1:02
Run #2: 3 miles - 21:14 avg 7:05
Overall time: 1:07:16
Overall place: 9/57
Age Group: 3/7 although got a 2nd place medal due to overall placing of the 1st place finisher


I am really glad that I choose to do this race after Big Creek went to heck.

Now for the amusing part of the story. Some of you may remember that as of last week I was not on a roll with the family cars. My Neon had to have a new alternator, battery and 4 new tires. Then, while mine was in the shop I smashed into the back of someone while driving my husband's. Well, here is strike three. I hope he keeps me around anyway. Hopefully I have some other good qualities.

When we were getting ready to leave MO, Mr KT couldn't find his keys. This is not unusual so we looked everywhere. Come to find out, he had thrown them in a plastic cup that was in the cup holder of the Neon when we left for the race. When we stopped for gas, I had inadvertently filled up the cup with trash and tissues and things and thrown it out. Needless to say, he was M.A.D. He went back to the gas station (20 or so miles) and dug through all the trash. I offered to go but I don't think he could stand to have me in the car with him at that point. He never found them. He said he found the cup but no keys. So we aren't positive they were in there but it is pretty likely. Anyway, he drove his mom's car home and I drove the Neon home. This morning he had to turn back around and drive the 3.5 hours back with the spare set of keys to switch out cars and then come home. I felt horrible but it was an accident, I swear! All is well that ends well and I think it would be in my best interest to go make him a REALLY good dinner tonight right now!

Have a nice week.

You know what is great?

Working with kids for two weeks and coming down with a cold... just before your last race of the season. Good thing it is a sprint. I have washed my hands religiously but yet still feel like I might sneeze at any second, all.the.time. Awesome.

So I feel like this...


which then, in turn, makes me feel like this...



or this...



So, we are leaving in the morning. Not sure how exactly we are going to get there without two cars because my bike is too short to fit on the bike rack and the dogs take up the back seat. I guess we will see how it goes.


Good luck to those racing at Louisville and Canada this weekend and here is to fabulous weather and the best conditions a person could ask for. Go get em!

Last weekend catch up

Oops, somehow time seems to slip away.

I meant to write a quick post about last Sunday but now all of a sudden it is Thursday and it doesn't seem so fresh in my mind.

Anywho, last Sunday, Mr KT and I did the Corporate Cycling Challenge on my company's team. We rode a 42 mile "hilly" route to Fort Calhoun and back to downtown Omaha. It was a nice ride even though he dropped me within the first mile. I mean if you ask me, 18 mph is fast enough for a 40 mile ride. =0) It was a nice ride with some rollers and some pretty good wind. We got home and went for a 3 mile run with the dogs together which was really fun. Nice easy pace, or as easy as it can be with 2 Brittany pups pulling on you.

Later that afternoon we headed out to the driving range to hit some range balls. That was a pretty fun time. Mr KT just got a set of clubs and was stoked to try them out. It went pretty well and we were tired by the time we both hit a bucket (80 some balls).

The next couple of days I was pretty darn sore from... you guessed it... swinging the golf club. My intercostals and obliques were screaming at me to do more core work which I will be incorporating after the race season is over.

This coming weekend we are headed to Lee Summit, MO for a race. I will be doing the Sprint distance tri and he will be competing in the duathlon. I just could NOT end my season with Big Creek. It was so awful. So, I am looking for some redemption. I am looking forward to this short little sprint.

More to come on the race early next week.

Later.

His and Hers Bikes

In response to the comment left by Bigun from the last post...

Bigun said...

I don't know..."she" looks like she has an uber-nice carbon fiber bike while "he" is riding a used steel jobber with only 3 gears.

August 17, 2007 7:29 PM

You may just be right.

Here are the bikes we ride when I can actually outride my husband. =0)

HERS...



HIS...


PULLING THIS...


OR THIS...




And the truth comes out. =0)

Editor's note: Those are baby pictures and so they aren't as light as they used to be.

Sweet new gear

Mr KT is a rock star! I wrote the last post about the Big Creek Tri sitting outside on our back stairs. I was leaning against the glass door and Mr KT was reading over my shoulder as I was writing from the inside. I had no idea he was doing that but he came outside later and said, "ok, so for our anniversary you need a rear water bottle cage and a heart rate monitor". Good guy, huh?

So yesterday, for our 2nd Anniversary, I got...


a Polar Heart Rate Monitor,



a pair of bright pink arm warmers




and a super cool jersey that I have been wanting forever.







He did make me promise not to wear it when I ride with him but that won't be a problem because he is so darn fast the jersey would be embarrassing for me not him.

Big Creek Tri RR

Make that hot, windy, broken, painful, and frustrating and you have yourself a more accurate title for the last post I wrote.

Let's just say that God was speaking clearly.

Just to warn you, this may be a really long post, so settle in...

I packed up and headed to Des Moines mid day on Saturday.




A friend took me out to pick up my packet and then we headed back to get our gear together for the next morning. My bike's gears were slipping a little bit but we got that straightened out for the most part.

I stayed with a buddy from high school and his wife and 2 year old little boy. They have been so hospitable as this is the second time this season I have stayed with them before a race. I stayed up way too late talking to them and catching up but that is part of the deal when you stay with friends you haven't seen in a while. All too soon it was time to roll out of bed. I got about 5 hours of sleep Saturday night. I got my gear together and stepped outside. Not kidding, it was 78º and 97% humidity at 5 am. There was fog on the ground and it was so oppressive you could hardly take a breath in.

I drove over to pick up my bike where I had left it the night before. I ate a piece of white toast with PB and Honey and got most of it down. From there it was on to the race site. We got there in plenty of time and got body marked and good end spaces in the transition area. I could not get myself to get in the lake and warm up even though it was more than warm enough. I just can't see the point of getting all wet and then having to stand around (I shiver no matter what the temperature) and get cold again. Warning to the dudes reading this, you may want to skip the next sentence. Besides, I had some nice cramps that were not helping my mood to race. Sorry guys but most of you have a significant other that probably talks about this so suck it up. =0) Just kidding.

I was in wave 4 and we took off about 7:45 or so. It was a one loop clockwise 1500 meter swim. I felt alright, I just never got in my groove. After the first turn the sun was in my eyes if I breathed to the right which I am a little more comfortable with. I was breathing left every third breath and closing my eyes when going right. Not pretty. I also noticed that when I was sighting, if I was off course, I was always pulling left. I have never noticed that to be a problem before. Swim time: 33:35. This is a 2:03 100 yd time. Really, really slow for me. I heard someone say they thought the swim was long but I have no idea if that was true. There was also a pretty sizable run to the transition area so maybe my swim was a little faster after you account for that.

T1 went off smoothly. 1:21

I jumped on my bike and was headed out on the course when I felt the chain slip the first time. I figured it was just working out the kinks but when it happened over and over I couldn't deny that I was going to have problems. I have since learned how to attempt to fix this problem but on Sunday morning I had no idea and in my defense, the thing was so loose that I probably would not have tightened it enough to solve the problem in one dismount. Anyway, I shifted through my gears and found out that if I stayed up in the second and third largest chain ring in the back and the large ring in the front I could keep from slipping. So I crushed my pedals for 24.something miles. I was hot, it hurt, the little rolling hills kept coming, and when I turned around there was a head wind. This course was probably considered flat for all intensive purposes but when you are mashing your pedals and your quads are on fire even the slightest grade seems somewhat difficult. Anyway, I was going to eat Fig Newtons on the bike, just a couple but I was working so hard and it was so hot there was no way I was going to get those down. I again with I would have had a heart rate monitor on because I was WAY up there. I drank a quarter of a bottle of Gatorade and most of my CamelBak of water (yes I am still wearing the stupid thing for the bike because I have not yet gotten a seat mount for two bottles and there is only room for one on my frame because it is so small). I also took an Enervit Lemon flavored gel 20 minutes before I got off the bike. Yuck, yuck, yuck. I also got held up by a van or SUV as I came back towards the park off the highway. The volunteers and the sheriff that were standing there did their best to keep him moving but I ended up coming to a stop behind him. I was growling, "go" at him until it turned into a shout. I am sure the policeman thought I was crazy, I wasn't even close to the front of the pack but I was still trying to be speedy to place in my age group. Bike time: 1:21:20 averaging 18.3 mph. I would like to be faster but I can handle that.

In T2 I dumped the CamelBak and all the calories that I didn't eat and took off. I took the time to put socks on again because I knew that I was going to be pouring water over my head and didn't want to get blisters. T2: 1:16

The run was horrible. I literally fell apart. I have never had such an agonizing run in my life. My legs were trashed from my psycho bike and it was so incredibly hot. I am positive that I added about a quarter of a mile on to the run (as did many other athlete) running from shade to shade which usually meant crossing to the other side of the street or the sidewalk. There were some spectators and volunteers who may have been angels randomly throughout the course squirting people with water out of bottles as we went by and a really nice random cyclist offering his water bottle to people as they went by which he would then refill from a big cooler. At each aid station I drank a glass of water and dumped a glass of water on my head and body. I was running 5-7 minutes and walking 30 sec. approximately. Running longer if I could and walking the aid stations. At mile 3 I drank a sip out of a glass and it tasted like chewed up bubble gum. I figured there had been Accelerade or something in one of the coolers long ago and that was what I was tasting so I sipped out of the other cup and it was the same thing. I didn't drink much at that station and dumped one of the cups on myself. Yeah, pretty sure that it was a powdered mix of something because I was sticky. I later heard that a bunch of people did the same thing. Have you ever tried to sweat through sports drink? Not much fun. I tried to rinse it off a mile later but at that point I really didn't care. I was hot, thirsty, tired and a bit crabby because of my snail's pace and the fact that I could hardly put one foot in front of the other. At some point I remember uttering the F word under my breath and swearing that I would never, ever attempt a half IM, let alone a full, ever. I ran the last quarter of a mile in at a decent pace which almost killed me. As I crossed the finish line some guy grabbed me and asked if I was alright, I was fine but I chose that moment to stumble and he pulled me over to the side and dumped a gallon jug of water on top of me. That soaked my socks and shoes which I had mostly managed to keep dry up until then. Run time:1:07:53 a disappointing 10:56 min/mile.

Overall time: 3:05:22 (I don't want to talk about it.)

It was just a hot day, everyone was suffering. I ended up 5th out of 10 in my age group even with my mechanical issues. I was 35th out of 75 for females and 217/304 overall. Not a great race but a good learning experience. I never felt sick or had a bad headache during or after the race so that was good but I still don't have the nutrition down. That is going to be something to work really hard on this winter while I ride my tail off on the trainer.

This was going to be my last race of the season but I am not sure I can end on that. There is a smaller sprint in Lee Summit, MO at the end of the month so maybe I will do that one to try and end my year with a good race.


This is Bricko and I recovering at home that evening.


Thanks for sticking with this report until the end. I know it was a long one.

Later all.

Weather forecast: hot, windy and super fast

Enough with the cyber space chain letters, let's talk about triathlon.

Tomorrow is tentatively my last race of the season.



It is an Olympic distance race on a flat, fast course. It is supposed to be bloody hot and windy so that will be a good challenge. As you may or may not know, wind is the Nebraska hill.

Race report coming soon, complete with nutrition information. I am feeling good and ready to race.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend. Stay cool and be safe!

Maybe more than you wanted to know...

He's Been Tagged

I know that you all are dying to know all about Mr KT. Just kidding... but you are going to find out some very random information. Who knows, I just might find out some things I didn't know. So without further ado,

Mr KT's post

Jobs I’ve Held (2007 and back)
Youth Director of Church
Sport Psych Internship at Creighton Univ.
Waterfront Director at Girl Scout Camp
Front Desk Attendant at Rec Center
Assistant Manager of Pool (I met KT here!!)
Lifeguard
Stocked Wonder Bread
Waiter at Applebee's
Plumber Assistant
Pizza Delivery Driver (one miserable blizzarding night in an 89 Camaro)
Garden Cafe Maintenance Crew
Target employee
Lifeguard for City of Omaha
Blimpie Sandwich maker


Movies I Can Watch Over & Over
Memento
Anchor Man
Dumb and Dumber
Tommy Boy
Billy Madison


My Guilty Pleasures
Twizzlers
Thrift store t-shirts
Video Games


Places I Have Lived (in order)
Omaha, NE
Columbia, MO
Omaha, NE
Lincoln, NE
Grand Island, NE
Farmington, MO
St Louis, MO

Shows I Enjoy
Daily Show
Family Guy
Heroes
Seinfeld
Dirty Jobs
Man vs Wild

Places I Have Been on Vacation
Alaska
South Dakota
Colorado
Ocean City, MD
Pennsylvania
Yellowstone
Chicago
Atlanta
Valparaiso, IN
Minnesota
Kansas City, MO
Dallas, TX

Favorite Foods
Pancakes
Eggs
Cereal
(Apparently anything breakfast)
Editor's note: this is because it is all he knows how to make although he makes it well.
Tacos
Homemade pizza


Websites I Visit Daily
cnnsi.com
facebook.com
email
stlcardinals.com
omaha.com
and other crazy liberal sites that shall remain unlisted


Body Parts I Have Injured
separated shoulder in high school football
broken wrist - dunking a basketball at age 12

Nicknames You’ve Been Called
Patty
Pat
P.C.
Collins
Patricia
Patty-kins
Pa-chip
Hard Ass

All about me (or at least a few things)

I've Been Tagged

Jobs I’ve Held
Telemarketing (2 months)
Detassling (1 day, in my defense, I was too small)
Swim lesson teacher
Overnight Staff at Strategic Air and Space Museum
Life Guard
Assistant Manager of Water Park
Physical Therapy Tech
Respite Care Giver for twins with CP
Camp Counselor for Kiddos with Disabilities
Pediatric Physical Therapist


Movies I Can Watch Over & Over
RENT
How to Make an American Quilt
American President
Brother Bear
Stick It


My Guilty Pleasures
TCBY White Chocolate Mousse
Cheedar Cheese
Brand new running shoes

Places I Have Lived (in order)
Cheyenne, WY
Lincoln, NE
Tuscon, AZ
Omaha, NE
O'Neill, NE
Dallas, TX

Shows I Enjoy
CSI (original)
Friends
Gray's Anatomy
House
Law and Order SVU

Places I Have Been on Vacation
Colorado Springs, CO
Ponto Lake, MN
Fort Robinson, NE
Billings, MT
Denver, CO
lots of ski resorts in CO
Atlanta, GA
Man, I didn't realize I was so boring!

Favorite Foods
Spaghetti and Marinara Sauce
Homemade Pizza
Peanut Butter and Honey
Gatorade
Pickle Spears

Websites I Visit Daily
Blogs
Triscoop
email (5 million times a day)
www.comics.com

Body Parts I Have Injured
elbow (in gymnastics)
L wrist (tendonitis)
L foot (sesamoiditis because I needed new running shoes)
broken toe (accidentally kicked a bookcase)
broken finger and 5 jammed fingers all at same time (fell off the uneven bars doing a giant swing)

Awards You’ve Won
Professionalism Award at PT school graduation/hooding
Nothing really worth mentioning

Nicknames You’ve Been Called
Kate
Scoot
Katie-bug
Wolfe
Wolfian

Pick 5 Other Bloggers
Mr KT (will be posted here if I can convince him to do so)
Kim (I am sure she will have something fun to say!)
Drew (that is what he gets for bailing on Blink and I!)
Tri-Dummy (I didn't want him to feel left out since his wife got tagged.)
Jameson (because he is just a good guy)

Mr. KTs bike project

Wow! Two posts in one day!

If you all have 4 minutes to watch the following video, please, please do. My husband (who you may already know is the youth director of a church) spearheaded this mission trip for the high school kids. This was the 3rd Mission Trip of the summer and it was a project he has been working on for almost a year now.

Last summer, he took a large group to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. They did some work and learned a whole lot about the culture. The kids and the adults on the trip gained a new perspective and lots of respect for a group of people who are different than they are. All year long he has been collecting, storing, repairing and refurbishing used bicycles. This is such a cool thing that he did and I am so proud of him! Take a few minutes out of your day and watch the video if you can. The video was put together by a guy at our church who works for Nebraska Public Television so it is a well done clip. The video can't be embedded but click here to go to the link. Thanks!

Ironhorse Meet-Up (and Race Report)

Another race in the books, folks.

I learned several important things this weekend.

• It is not always so much about the race as it is about the experience and the people. (Yes, I had a crappy race but a really good weekend, read on.)

• If possible, a road trip with dad now and then is a great idea.

• I need the open water swim to be competitive.

• Nebraska needs more triathlons.

So... this race was as different from last weekend as it could possibly be. Let's talk about the positives first. I drove to North Platte with my dad. That was pretty fun in itself (good thing because it is a haul). We stayed with a friend of his from college. They showed me the course and then I went over and had some dinner with Tri-Dummy and his wife Amiee, Duane, and met their kids and dogs. (Thanks again for dinner, guys!) It was nice to talk with Jay, Amiee, and Duane and get to know them better.

I didn't sleep well in the unfamiliar surroundings but I headed out to the race site ready to race. I signed in, got body marked, and started to set up my transition area. I was just getting ready to put my PB and Honey sandwich together when I realized I didn't have a knife. I ended up using my fingers to spread the PB on my the bread. (Yes, that jar had to be pitched, gross, I know.) I finished my transition area as I was having breakfast. I looked over and you will imagine my surprise when I saw this...



I had set the second half of my sandwich down next to me and a guy came over to talk to someone and stepped right on it. It was super annoying and hilarious all at the same time. It was stuck to his shoe and he had no idea. I debated as to whether or not to say anything but I ended up tapping him on the shoulder and saying, "I am not trying to slow down your run on purpose or anything but I think you have my PB sandwich stuck to the bottom of your shoe." I thought it was a little funny that it had happened but was a bit annoyed that my nutrition plan was getting thrown off before the race was even started. No time for more calories... off to pre-race meeting and wave starts.

I was in the third wave. It was a 500 m pool swim in a 50 m pool. 5 laps. Would have been great except I felt crappy from the get-go. The flip turns weren't helping things. I am glad that it was short. I usually love to swim but I was pretty glad to be getting out. (This is a trend you will notice if you continue to read.) I really have come to like open water swimming, I don't mind getting pummeled, I don't mind having my goggles knocked off (I can usually prevent this), and getting a mouth full of water, while kind of gross, is not frightening for me. I usually have an advantage here, but not at this race and I paid for it. Swim time: Approximately 9:05.

Ran the distance to the transition area. Felt really wobbly, not a good sign after such a short swim. Grabbed bike gear, pulled shoes on (wasn't brave enough to start clipped in after last weekend's fiasco), grabbed a swig of Gatorade Rain and was on my way. T1 = 1:08

The first half of the bike was alright. I was booking with a 20 mph average. I got passed just after the first turn around by two females. As soon as I turned around I ran out of gas. I had been drinking water but no calories. It was too late to take my gel as I was only 15-20 minutes away from T2. Kept pushing, felt alright but just couldn't go any faster. I would be curious to know where my heart rate was at but I don't have a monitor. Headed towards the 2nd turn around up a good-sized hill. Felt great going up but got passed by two guys and a chick. I was doing 36 mph on the way down which was super fun. At this point I was really tired of my bike and it was only a 15 mile ride. Yipes. The road was really rough and every bump was rattling my body for some reason. I pedaled on back to T2 and jumped off. Bike time: approximately 47 min. Avg 19.2 mph.


T2: I put socks on today because the run was 5 miles and I hadn't been training without socks lately. Took another swig of Gatorade and grabbed my race belt. Approximately 1:20 in T2.


I headed out on the run. Felt alright. I was glad to be off my bike. I was still smiling and felt alright I just couldn't turn the burners on. I plugged away the 2.5 miles to the turn around on the super-duper flat course. It kind of sucked to have to run right by the turn around for the 2 mile run because it was only a mile out. Knowing that you still had to do three miles before you would be back there. I counted steps, I calculated paces, I got annoyed at the people who were running with their headphones on turned up really loud, you know the usual. My stomach was really sloshing, I could seriously hear it, but I felt fine so I just kept going. Walk the aid stations for water but was just shuffling along. I am not a fast runner by any means but this was ridiculous. Somewhere I had blown up. I didn't ever hit a wall. In fact, I felt like I had never picked up enough speed to notice if I tapped the wall. Run time: 46:36. Avg: 9:19. Ouch!

My overall time was 1:43:14.
2nd of two in age group, 5 of 6 in women's overall. I deserved nothing better than that.

But... Amiee, Jay, Jake, Duane, and I all finished and this is my favorite picture of the day.



I know this is getting long but now for a little entertainment...


KT and KT's Dad


KT and Duane

It made me laugh how much alike they looked. See Duane's blog for a pic of them side by side.

Alright. Enough is enough. It was so great to meet everyone. Thanks again to Tri-Dummy and Amiee for feeding me. Congrats to Jakie for his first grown-up triathlon. Thanks to McKenna (I hope I spelled that right) and Josh for all their cheering. And nice job to Duane on his first bling!!! Woot Woot!

Next weekend. The Big Creek Olympic outside of Des Moines, IA.

Papillion Mayor's Triathlon

Race report as per request of Blink!

Saturday, July 28th, 2007

This was a small local sprint about 30 minutes from my house. It was a fairly well run race, and I really can't complain as I had a really good morning.

The race had a later start time of 8:15 am. I had plenty of time in transition and had a great spot right next to the bike in.





The swim was 500 meters, three right hand turns around the buoys. I started at the front of the pack and swam a moderate pace with very little sighting. Right on course. Swim time: approximately 9:15 in the water. We didn't have timing chips and so most of these times are estimated but I think they are pretty close. I came out the water 2nd female.

About 1:00 in T1. Nothing extra, no socks, shoes clipped in. This last part cost me some time. Usually this is no problem but when I went to put my left foot in, I jammed the tongue of my shoe down into the shoe. I eventually had to stop and fix this problem and then get up and hammer. All in all, by the time I messed around trying to get my foot in, stopped, fixed the problem and started again I probably lost :45. That was when Theresa went by me. I kept her in sight for 2 1/2 loops of the bike course and then lost her. Bike was three loops of what I would consider technical. Several places where you had to thread the needle through concrete parking barriers (these areas tended to bottle neck), two 90 degree turns on a sidewalk with a fence on one side, mini switchbacks up the side of the hill to get out of the Recreation Area, and then a bunch of rolling hills. The course felt good on the first loop but on the second loop when I started catching up to people who were still on their first things got a little more tedious. I also think that the bike course was short. It was supposed to be 15 miles but my bike computer came up with 13 or so. Bike time: 41:40. Average speed: 21.6 mph if 15 mile course, 18.9 if 13 miles. So at this point Mary is way out ahead, Theresa passed me on the first loop. Heather passed me on the very last climb, and Tami tried to pass me and I shut her down on the way down to to T2.

T2: Uneventful, approximately :45.

Run: I was sitting in 4th going into the run. I caught up with Heather and she and I paced off each other. We never caught the other three gals ahead of us but we did cheer them on when we saw them coming back. The run was uphill to the turn around and then downhill on the way back to the finish which was pretty nice. My run time was an estimated 24:45 which comes to about a 7:57 pace. This may be a little optimistic but close.

Overall time: 1:17:29
1st out of 13 in age group
4th out of 53 women
28/136 overall

I really need to find 3 more minutes to beat Theresa!

Results are here.



Proof!



Kona with the bling.

Alright, next is Ironhorse in North Platte on Saturday.
Ready, set, race!